The biggest Marvel movie ever made bank

The Marvel Cinematic Universe crown jewel earned an estimated $258.2 million in North American theaters during its opening weekend, according to numbers released by Disney, pushing Infinity War past the previous record holder, Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million), on the list of all-time best openings.

In addition to the national success, Infinity War added an estimated $382.7 million around the world, the second best global debut of all-time behind only The Fate of the Furious (which had the added benefit of opening in China as well; Infinity War has not yet premiered in Chinese multiplexes).

Combined, those two lofty numbers give the Disney release the biggest global debut ever at $640.9 million, ahead of The Fate of The Furious.

Infinity War continues Marvel's run of nearly unprecedented success: the studio, which first released Iron Man in 2008 to kick-off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, owns six of the 10 biggest opening weekends of all time: Infinity War, 2012's Marvel's The Avengers (No. 5 at $207 million), this year's Black Panther (No. 6 at $202 million), 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron (No. 7 at $191 million), 2016's Captain America: Civil War (No. 8 at $179 million), and 2013's Iron Man 3 (No. 10 at $174 million). The 19 films that comprise the MCU have grossed more than $15.3 billion in global ticket sales.

Avengers: Infinity War raises the stakes for Earth's Mightiest Heroes in a way previously unseen in the film series. The film, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Chris Evans (Captain America), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), and Josh Brolin as the villainous Thanos, among many other familiar heroes. It ends on a note of shock and will have a follow-up film in theaters this time next year, the untitled Avengers 4, which will conclude this portion of the MCU.

Between now and then, Marvel will release two other features: July's Ant-Man and the Wasp (a sequel to Ant-Man which is expected to take place before the events of Infinity War) and March 2019's Captain Marvel (which stars Oscar winner Brie Larson as the title character and is set in the 1990s).